Morning Games to Start a Weekend

 

Looking out the window as I lay in bed, the sky is layered pink and gray. I begin to read the English translation, The Secret Life of Writers by Guillaume Musso (I'm too lazy to read the French if English is available). He has the character Nathan Fawkes appear on TV and answer a series of rapid fire questions. Musso referenced Bernard Pivot,* a French journalist whom I used to watch on television. He would ask the interviewee a series of questions, almost always the same.

James Lipton on the program The Actors Studio, adapted the method at the end of his interviews with famous performers.

A variation was done by Catherine Ceylac on the French program Thé ou Café where she and the interviewee sat back to back to back as she asked rapid fire questions often like Pivot.

I loved both. Many are now on YouTube if anyone wants to check them out.

In an egotistical moment, I pretended what I would do if on TV and were interviewed in such a way.

BP: What's your favorite word?

DL: Plethora

BP: What's your least favorite word?

DL: Like when it is injected many times into sentences, like you know I was running late, my favorite food is like spaghetti I will be going to the like you know the movies.

BP: Your favorite drug

DL: Blopress with all its other brand names in France and Switzerland. Keeps my blood pressure in check. I don't do drugs but have had a life long addiction to Coca-Cola.

BP: Your favorite sound

DL: Bird song

BP: Your least favorite sound

DL: Sherlock barking in the middle of the night

BP: Favorite swear word

DL: Merde or shit

BP: The plant, tree or animal you would like to be reborn as

DL: A dog with someone like me as the owner. I'd have a wonderful life if as a dog I was treated as I treated my dogs.

BP: If God exists what would you like him to say to you after you die

DL: You were wrong about me. I exist.

My husband was next to me checking emails. I told him I was going to say a number of words and wanted a quick answer. Of course, he wanted more information, which I gave him. He agreed but his voice had a I'll humor her tone.

BP: What's your favorite word?

RA: Merde

BP: What's your least favorite word?

RA; Nazi

BP: Your favorite drug

RA: Viagra

BP: Your favorite sound

RA: Laughter

BP: Your least favorite sound

RA: Gas

BP: The plant, tree or animal you would like to be reborn as

RA:: A dog

BP: If God exists what would you like him to say to you after you die

RA: Not bad

When I watched Pivot, Lipton, Ceylac, I often thought it would be fun to ask friends the same series. Earlier in my writing, I would "interview" my characters with these and other questions to help me round out their characters. For the last few years I haven't really thought about it but on a Saturday morning, it was a fun way to start the weekend.

The sunrise pink has disappeared. It's now time to start the day.

*Bernard Pivot  5 May 1935 – 6 May 2024 was a French journalist, hosted cultural television programs and was chairman of the Académie Goncourt